Even the oldest of formulas can sometimes use a tune-up, and, according to beloved writer Game of Thrones. Moore's rationale is typically and devastatingly perceptive when it comes to diagnosing their weaknesses.
Moore is no slouch when it comes to writing fantasy himself, penning his first fantasy prose story in 1984, Hypothetical Lizard, for the third Liavek shared-world anthology. Having gradually expanded his straight genre fantasy work, notably in his 2015 novel Jerusalem, Moore tells Screen Rant that, while he had grown up reading Tolkien’s books in the ‘60s counterculture, he had always felt that they “weren’t for [him]” and that Tolkien "wasn’t an author [he] particularly ired." Revisiting the old tales years later while reading stories like The Hobbit to his grandchildren, Moore says that he was taken aback by “the imperialism, the racism, the class snobbery, the air of misogyny” that many older fantasy narratives contain, describing the experience as “a bit of a minefield” and the genre in general as “too reassuring.”
Blockbuster Fantasy Is "Too Reassuring"
Perhaps most intriguingly over the course of his detailed discussion of the genre, Moore broke his silence on one of the most famous fantasy television series of recent years, HBO’s Game of Thrones. While making it clear he's speaking without any animus towards the show, Moore states:
I want to be almost lifted into a different neurology by a fantasy story. I want something that actually rewires my view of reality while I’m immersed in that book, that allows me all sorts of different possibilities that I hadn’t considered. That’s what I tend to want from fantasy ... having seen only a few episodes of Game of Thrones, and this is not a condemnation of it, I’ve not seen more than that, but it did seem to me to be The Sopranos set in Fifth-Century Dorset. That was my impression; that it was a family saga with bloody betrayals and all of the rest of it, but it was in Fifth-Century Dorset rather than in New York State or whatever.
Moore Has Some Recommendations for Fantasy Fans
Moore’s feelings on the state of fantasy evoke a similar discipline to the one he often uses in his deconstructive story approaches, namely the necessity of finding new and novel ways to discuss philosophical issues in fiction rather than relying on established clichés or tropes inherent to the genre. His brief criticism of Game of Thrones in this instance seems to be an onition for not using the opportunities of the genre to craft a more original experience for the viewer, with a double indemnity of echoing Tolkien’s aesthetic. By way of comparison, Moore specifically singled out Brian Catling’s Vorrh trilogy and David Lindsay’s The Voyage to Arcturus as examples of the kind of fantasy he enjoys, noting that he finds their approaches unrestrained from realism while not being “something that Tolkien borrowed from Norse Mythology.”
Instead of using the same recycled myths and legends as basis for the stories told in popular culture, reliant as they are upon tradition and nostalgia, Moore is suggesting in his comments that there are better, more intellectually challenging and stylistically vibrant ways of constructing fantasy which can still provide the kind of genre-deconstructing social commentary that Moore himself is such a pioneer of. Still willing to call out creative laziness when he sees it - even in the most high-profile media - Alan Moore's comments on Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones are once again providing piercing commentary to a popular genre which might just need an infusion of new ideas. Screen Rant's full interview with Alan Moore is coming soon.
